Najib’s failure to listen earns public rebuke

It was Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s failure to listen to the people that earned him the public rebuke he got in Penang during the BN’s Chinese New Year open house.

He has spent huge amounts of money trying to impress upon Malaysians his concept of change. But he has failed. It is a pity but he was humiliated when the crowd in Penang said ‘No”, not once but three times, when he asked whether they are ready for BN.

It is strange for the PM to have asked the question three times, having heard their reply the first time around. Perhaps the PM was just doing what he does best. He was not listening.

The PM who has repeatedly sought support by declaring himself as a ‘PM for all Malaysians’ has failed miserably to demonstrate that very courage needed of a leader in such circumstances, to lead where leadership is required.

Then the even more disturbing failure on the PM’s part to see to it that action is taken against individuals who have single-handedly and deliberately flout the law by interfering into and freezing the lawful business of Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd (GMSB), and consequentially thereby having insulted the intelligence of all customers, friends and supporters of GMSB by twisting and turning the plot to become a noble action on the part of the government by claiming such raid to be in the name of protecting public interest.

Genneva Supporters have subsequently given not only on one occasion but twice, letters of appeal with the hope that the PM can see with his own eyes the plight of suffering Gennevarians.

Unfortunate as it may, there is just simply no action and the PM doesn’t answer. All he could whimper out from his mouth is “Don’t worry”.

Then we have the PM keeping silent when party stalwarts such as Dr Mahathir Mohamad whose views represent and hold great weight in support of GMSB, continue to support such demeaning acts of letting Gennevarians to suffer or just die in desperation.

Despite the unashamed act of keeping other peoples’ gold and money, these very same people keep on insulting Gennevarians and fellow citizens of all races even to the extent of pleading to the people to give the PM a two-thirds majority in Parliament, so that laws can be changed so as to get rid of Malaysians who fight against them, who fight for justice and fair play.

These are merely a few examples. The PM has sat silent throughout these incidents. He doesn’t seem to listen.

Consequences of Deafness

The PM has failed to understand what it is that Malaysia needs. He failed to understand that Malaysia badly needs a change in political mindset, where quite apart from economic reform, we need to build a stronger and more resilient society, with greater social values and moral fabric.

Malaysia needs leadership if it is to move into a new era, an era where all Malaysians can rest assured that its government is alive to the real issues around it and brave enough to deal with them. We have thousands upon thousands of Gennevarians crying foul over the unjust raid of GMSB and the government through the PM is not brave enough to deal with it, of course for reasons it knows best.

The PM has failed to do that. He has failed to live up to his slogans of “1Malaysia” and “People first, performance now”.

The people have sent a strong message to the PM: spending money doesn’t make you a better PM. Listening to your people on all scores and responding with solutions, especially in difficult situations, will.

There is much to be learnt from the public rebuke BN got in Penang. There is no way the people can force BN to listen to them.

BN can ignore the people as they have on many occasions. But when they ignore the people, they shouldn’t be surprised when the people in turn reject them publicly in the end.